Everyone I ask irl says it differently, and I just know I’m going to embarrass myself at some point if I don’t find out :lol:
Breeeeeches or britches?
Britches. Which is odd, since I pronounce the long e if I’m talking about a breech loader or a breech clout. But if I’m talking about the part of the harness that goes behind the hindquarters [breeching], I say britching.
So maybe it’s a horse thing? 
Well, it can also be breeeches. I guess it depends on where you live and with whom you are speaking! 
Them there Southeners never could keep thangs straight. :lol:
In Newmarket, it was breeeches.
I am out in California, I say “britches” (as do most people I know).
Edited to add - per Wikipedia:
Breeches (/?br?t??z/ brich-?z)
I say breeeeches.
That’s funny! The pants are britches. The harness part is breeeeching to me! Although I didn’t distinguish a different btw the two words personally until college so maybe britches is an east coast thing?
Breeches but if you are busting slack I will tell you to pull your britches up.
I am a school teacher so it is something I used to say a lot but thankfully that fad is passing after only about twenty years.
[QUOTE=Luseride;7388283]
Breeches but if you are busting slack I will tell you to pull your britches up.
I am a school teacher so it is something I used to say a lot but thankfully that fad is passing after only about twenty years.[/QUOTE]
Yes, we commonly refer to pants - trousers, to the OP, not underpants! - as britches around here.
Is that ridiculous fad going away? Yay!:applause:
Back when I taught school, which was long enough ago that teachers could still smoke on campus, I was sitting on the loading dock having a smoke. Suddenly the back door flew open and a young man came pelting out the door, and, intent on escape, didn’t bother with the stairs but leapt off the dock.
Whereupon his britches fell around his ankles and tripped him. Nearly swallowed my cigarette from laughing so hard. :lol:
Somewhat O/T but.
Crupper. Croo-per or cruh-per? 
I call them riding pants. Because I don’t know if it’s breeeeches or britches.
If I’m at work, trying to sell them, it’s bree-ches. Every other time, it’s britches.
I don’t think I’ve ever said britches before in my life! :lol: Obviously, breeches.
[QUOTE=Howlin’Wolf;7388316]
Somewhat O/T but.
Crupper. Croo-per or cruh-per? [/QUOTE]
Same thing. How you say it depends on who you learned from, where you are located.
We do carriage driving, learned to pronounce it as spelled, crup-per. Our friends said it that way too. But other Carriage Driving folks may say it the other way.
My farmer friends, draft horse drivers, always called it croo-per when harnessing.
I never cared for the croo-per pronunciation, sounded like you were sick as with the Croup.
My Grampa always called the shafts on a vehicle, shaves. Don’t know why, but he learned it someplace. I always called them shafts, but we both understood what the other was saying.
Doesn’t matter how you pronounce them, as long as you don’t forget to put them on before you leave the dressing room!
breeeeches
Breeeeeeeches. Although after hearing a few people around here say britches, I tried saying it like that a few times :lol: It didnt last long.
What about Jodhpurs? This one seems SO obvious to me, but I actually got in an argument with someone about it recently–both of us have ridden since we were teeny tiny! JodFurs or JodPurs?
Around here I don’t know if I can really remember anyone calling them britches. From what I can tell the pants are always called Breeches (just as it’s spelt). Don’t know about harnesses.
I pronounce breeches like I pronounce leeches, speeches, screeches or beseeches, but it’s an old enough word that I take britches as an acceptable local variant.
For jodhpurs on the other hand, jod-purrs is the only correct way. When I hear jod-furs I assume the person can’t spell and thinks it is jodphurs. The city in India is pronounced jod-purr too.
I say britches.
I pronounced crupper the way it is spelled, with a short U as in supper.
breeches (breeeeeches), crupper (croo-per). i have never in my life herd anyone pronounce the word ‘britches’ and only recently herd someone call it a ‘cruh-per’ and was baffled 
